KIRKISTOWN, Northern Ireland – Matt Round-Garrido secured his place in the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout presented by Cooper Tires, with a convincing victory in the penultimate round of the Dawson-WAM Northern Ireland Formula Ford 1600 Championship.

The 18-year-old former karting star from Stourbridge in England fought off very determined opposition from racing brothers David and Ivor McCullough, and title challenger Alan Davidson to clinch the title with one round left to run.

That round was held just a couple of hours later at Kirkistown’s final race meeting of the year, and resulted in victory for Davidson, his 1989 Mondiale defeating the Van Diemens of Ivor McCullough and Will Herron. The new champion, however, didn’t reach the checkered flag, retiring after a clash with David McCullough who recovered to claim fourth place.

David also won the prestigious non-championship Martin Donnelly Trophy event which closed the day’s racing, seeing off a strong challenge from brother Ivor who eventually finished third behind Noel Robinson.

Round-Garrido, however, was unable to take the start despite qualifying on pole position because his team was unable to repair his Medina JL17 in time following the incident earlier in the day.